Death toll in S. Korean ferry disaster rises to 25

Coast guard members search for passengers near a South Korean ferry (C) that capsized on its way to Jeju island from Incheon, at sea some 20 kilometres off the island of Byungpoong in Jindo on April 17, 2014. (AFP Photo / Ed Jones)

As rescuers struggle with high seas in the search to find 271 missing passengers of a submerged South Korean ferry, the captain may face criminal charges for abandoning ship. Eleven more bodies have been found since Thursday, raising the death toll to 25.

So far, 179 passengers have been rescued. Experts say it is
possible – though not likely – that some of the 271 missing
passengers are still alive, trapped in air pockets inside the
vessel.

“The chances of finding people in there [alive] are not zero.
It is not impossible that people have survived, but tragically,
it’s very unlikely that many will have done,” David Jardine
Smith, a rescue expert and secretary of the International
Maritime Rescue Federation told Reuters.

"Despite shortage of time for scientific analysis, it seems
like that bodies have begun to spill out of the sunken ship due
to current shifts," Yonhap News quoted an official as
saying.

As desperate relatives waited for news of their loved ones,
parent Park Yung-suk said that she had seen the body of her
teenage daughter’s teacher brought ashore.

“If I could teach myself to dive, I would jump in the water
and try to find my daughter,” she said.

Her daughter was one of 340 children and teachers from Danwon
High School in Ansan, a suburb of Seoul, who were aboard the
stricken vessel. The ferry capsized and sank en route from the
port of Incheon to the popular holiday destination of Jeju
Island.

As anger and frustration grew at the official government response
and rescue efforts, some of the parents of the missing teenagers
hired their own boat and blamed the government of President Park
Guen-hye for not making enough of an effort.

“Since the government refused to take us to the scene, 11
parents chipped in 61,000 won (US$58.79) each to hire a boat and
took a reporter and a diver. But there was no rescue operation
going on,” a father said.

But with 36 hours passing since the ferry sank, hope of finding
anyone alive is quickly fading. Coast Guard, Navy, and private
divers have been scouring the area of the accident. Rescue teams
have hammered on the hull of the upturned vessel – hoping to hear
a response from anyone trapped inside – but have so far heard
nothing, according to local media.

Although the waters where the ship sank are not deep – just under
50 meters – choppy seas and murky, silt-filled waters were
hampering rescue efforts of the 150 or so divers.

“There is a lot of water current and silt in the water which
means visibility is very poor and the divers are basically
feeling their way around,” said Jardine-Smith.

Captain chaos

The third officer was at the helm of the ferry when it capsized,
an investigating prosecutor stated at a news conference on
Friday. The whereabouts of the captain at the time of the
accident are still unknown, but the investigator added that
"he may have been off the bridge.”

The captain of the 'Sewol' ferry, 69-year-old Lee Joon-seok, is
being questioned and may face charges of abandoning ship.

There are unconfirmed reports from some of the survivors that he
was one of the first people to jump to safety, though no one has
actually said they saw him leaving the ship.

The Coast Guard and the ferry operator have declined to comment,
but there is a growing body of evidence that the evacuation of
the ship was poorly led.

A crew member has claimed that no immediate evacuation order was
given because officers on the bridge were trying to stabilize the
ship after it began to list.

Amid the confusion and chaos, it wasn’t clear if an order from
the captain to the crew was actually relayed to passengers on the
ferry's public address system, according to Oh Yong-seok, one of
the survivors. Other survivors said they didn’t hear any
evacuation order.

Other people who were rescued said that an initial order for
passengers to remain where they were actually caused many people
to drown, as passengers remained in their cabins below deck while
the ship quickly filled with water. There are, however, several
emerging stories of selfless heroism from individual crew members
– some of whom drowned while helping passengers escape.

There has so far been no official explanation for why the ferry
sank. Although the wider area has rocks and shallow waters,
officials insist the ship was not sharply off its authorized
route.

Lax safety, broke operator?

South Korean state broadcaster YTN quoted officials investigating
the tragedy saying that the ship had in fact veered off its usual
course due to strong cross winds, which had also caused
containers stacked on deck to shift position.

The Sewol was built in Japan 20 years ago and was found to have
three safety deficiencies in 2012, including one relating to
navigation.

Its operator, Chonghaejin Marine Co Ltd, is unlisted and reported
a loss of 785 million won ($756,000) last year. Its officials
have come under fire for a second day, avoiding questions about
what happened.